The philosopher Patrick Suppes has developed a unique and influential approach to studying the foundations of science—he combines an understanding of the main principles of scientific theories in axiomatic terms and formal models with a hands-on approach. While moving the study of the philosophy of science out of the parlor and into the lab, he often comes up with original results from the psychology of learning to the theory of measurement and quantum mechanics. This book searches for a common thread in Suppes’s multifaceted work through a series of conversations with the man himself and illuminates many of the more challenging aspects of his philosophy.

1. Introduction1.1 Philosopher of the details1.2 Formal methods1.3 Pragmatism1.4 Pluralism1.5 Antireductionism1.6 Organization of the book2. Axiomatization of Theories and Set-theoretical Models2.1 "To axiomatize a theory is to define a set-theoretical predicate"2.2 The structure of scientific theories: not only axioms2.3 Representation and invariance3. Representing Theories3.1 The linguistic perspective3.2 Models and structures4. The Meaning of Formalization4.1 The centrality of formal methods4.2 Formal methods in Suppes' philosophy4.3 Historical and conceptual roots4.4 The sense of formalizing4.5 The context for formalization5. Probabilities and Experiments5.1 Experiments and experimental procedures5.2 Indeterminism and probability6. Epilogue

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